SALSA SARACINA (Saracen sauce)

Summer is the time for BBQs and grilled fish with a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, parsley cut finely (do not use a food chopper – it will taste grassy), lemon juice and seasoning.

But sometimes, a different dressing can make it more special and will bring more compliments when you present the fish to guests.

There are no set weights and measures for making sauces – the measures are purely my estimation of the ratio or balance of ingredients and flavours.

Sarsa saracina (Sicilian) Salsa saracina (Saracen sauce). It is a cooked sauce and has that particular set of ingredients which are so common to Sicilian cooking – olives, pine nuts (or almonds) and seedless sultanas. The sauce contains sugar and saffron – Saracen ingredients particularly popular in foods from the north-western side of Palermo.

INGREDIENTS

green olives, 1 cup, stoned and chopped finely

anchovies, 2-3 cut finely

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil, about ½ cup

sugar, 1 teaspoon

pine nuts or almonds ¾ , toasted and chopped finely

oregano, 1 tablespoon fresh, cut finely or ½ teaspoon dry

sultanas, ½ cup seedless (soaked in some warm water for 30 mins beforehand, then drained, chopped)

saffron, 2 good pinches (it will depend on the potency and quality of your saffron – you need to be able to taste it and see some yellow tinge).

PROCESSES

Heat the oil in a pan and add anchovies and stir to dissolve.

Add the olives and the other ingredients and stir to amalgamate the flavours.